ANAHEIM – Torii Hunter said he is targeting a return from the disabled list one week from today, although he admitted a few days later might be more realistic.

“Somewhere around the first of August,” he said.

Hunter has been on the disabled list since July 8 with a strained muscle near his right groin. Two separate crashes into walls earlier this season caused the injury and he kept on playing with it until the pain became too unbearable.

Hunter actually was eligible to come off the disabled list on Friday. Instead of playing against his old team this weekend, he has been resigned to visits with his Minnesota Twins acquaintances during batting practice.

The rehabilitation process was slow at first, but lately has been increasing in intensity.

“They took it easy to make sure it’s 100 percent out of there,” Hunter said. “The trainers have been doing a great job taking the soreness away. The treatment we’re doing, the exercises we’re doing, it’s been awesome.”

The master of home-run robbing catches said the perfect-game-saving catch Thursday by the Chicago White Sox’s DeWayne Wise did not make him more anxious to return to the field, but he was impressed nonetheless.

“I was just proud of him because I know him,” Hunter said. “He just went in as a defensive replacement and he did it. I’m just glad that he got the chance to show what he could do.”

Hunter, who has long called his homer-stealing catch of Barry Bonds in the 2002 All-Star Game his favorite, was asked if Wise’s catch topped that one.

“Actually, that was almost better, to be honest with you,” said Hunter, who paused to think about it a little more. “No, it was better. Think about it. It’s the situation. To save a perfect game? I would rank that as my No. 1 catch.”

Rumor mill

Two Internet sources have revealed the Angels have an interest in Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Scott Kazmir.

Kazmir is just 4-6 this season with a 6.69 ERA, but has made at least 24 starts in each of the previous four seasons and never had an ERA higher than 3.77 in any of them.

If added to the mix, the left-hander could end up as the team’s third-best starter behind Jered Weaver and John Lackey, if he can find his old form and neither Joe Saunders nor Ervin Santana find theirs.

Lending a hand

Matt Palmer was named the starter today and will fill the topsy-turvy fifth spot in the rotation. The right-hander, who is 7-1 with a 4.75 ERA, will be making his 12th start of the season but first since June 28.

“I’ll just go out there and take it inning by inning,” Palmer said. “If I can make a good go of it and get a couple of more starts, maybe I can get back into the starting mode. But right now, I’m just going to take it as a relief appearance.”